Self-translations as sites of transnational literary creation in Polish and Ukrainian Modernism (Stanisław Przybyszewski, Ivan Franko)

This research pertains to the expanding field of Self-Translation Studies and approaches self-translation not as a derivative act, but as a creative practice in which authorship, originality, and cultural identity are renegotiated. Particular attention is given to the historical and socio-cultural conditions shaping this practice, especially in multilingual and transnational contexts. Central and Eastern Europe between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries provides the main framework, characterised by mobility, imperial structures, and linguistic plurality. Through combined textual and contextual analysis, the study examines how authors adapt their works across languages and position themselves within different literary systems. The first chapter establishes the theoretical framework by addressing the definitional challenges associated with self-translation, highlighting the tension between two principal interpretations: one considers it a distinct form of translation, while the other understands it as rewriting or autonomous creation. The chapter also examines specific types of self-translation and introduces a sociological perspective centred on power relations between languages and cultures. In this context, it analyses the categories of vertical and horizontal, as well as intralinguistic and supralinguistic self-translation, which are fundamental to understanding the dynamics influencing authors’ choices and the reception of their texts. The second chapter is devoted to Stanisław Przybyszewski and his work within multilingual cultural contexts, with particular attention to Berlin and Prague. Through an analysis of his intellectual biography and his connections with European modernist circles, the chapter reconstructs the role of major cities as centres of cultural exchange at the turn of the century. Przybyszewski’s decision to write in German is interpreted in relation to linguistic prestige and the international circulation of literature. The chapter shows how he constructed a transnational literary identity, balancing Polish national specificity with universal artistic aspirations. His role within the European Decadent movement further explains how self-translation became part of a broader strategy of literary positioning. The third chapter explores Ivan Franko’s work within Polish and Viennese contexts. Franko exemplifies an author operating in a multilingual and culturally layered environment, where self-translation functioned as a bridge between different literary systems. The chapter examines the relationship between literary production and national identity in the Ukrainian context, emphasising how multilingualism and self-translation served both communicative purposes and strategies of cultural legitimisation. It also demonstrates how Franko employed self-translation not only to broaden his readership but also to renegotiate the meaning and function of his works across different contexts. His relationship with literary modernism is also examined. The fourth chapter constitutes the analytical core of the research. It presents the selected corpora for each author and offers a comparative analysis of the self-translated versions. The objective is to identify the strategies employed in the self-translation process and evaluate the linguistic, stylistic, and semantic transformations emerging across different versions. By integrating textual comparison with historical and cultural contextualisation, the analysis demonstrates how self-translation functions as a creative practice that reshapes meaning, reinforces authorial agency, and negotiates literary identity across languages.